Legislators are soliciting opinions on the draft of an animal abuse law according to China Daily.

According to the draft, individuals will be fined up to 5000 Yuan plus a detention within 15 days if the eat the meat of a dog or a cat; moreover, instituions can be fined 10,000-500,000 Yuan.

The law has been in the draft stage for over a year and will be submitted to higher authorities come April. But draft legislation can take years to approve.

Drafters at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have been consulting for more than a year with Britain’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the US-based International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Ending the culinary tradition is going to be difficult even it is passed in to law, as it dates back thousands of years. Dog meat was once considered a medicinal tonic.

The economic impact of this law would be small as China’s affluent don’t partake in the delicacy. In fact, such traditions have received much scrutiny from affluent, pet-loving, urban middle class. And online petitions against dog and cat consumption have attracted tens of thousands of signatures.

However, in the near future, things will be different

From the China Daily:

Those smoking in public places in Beijing may be fined up to 200 Yuan (about $30), according to an amendment draft to regulations on the public smoking ban, the Beijing times reported.  The current regulation took effect on May 1, 2007, with a fine of only 10 Yuan for violators.  The current amendment seeks to raise the amount to 50-200 Yuan.

Not Implementable

Who will implement this ban? Are there going to be special smoke policy roaming around the city 24/7 looking for public smokers?  I simply can’t imagine someone going up to a smoker and says：

“I’m sorry sir but you can’t smoke in public.”
“What are you going to do about it?!”
“I would have to confiscate your unfinished cigarette and fine you.”
“How much?”
“200 Yuan.”
“I’m sorry, I only have 30 Yuan in my wallet.  Here, have a smoke on me and let’s forget about this little incident.”
“This is highly irregular…wow, is that Marlboro?”

So if you are not getting at least the mandatory employment injury insurance, then demand it from your employer.  If they tell you they cannot give you these benefits because you are a foreigner, they are lying.

So here’s what you do.  Write a letter to the human resource department asking about the benefits you can enjoy, see what they say.  If they say no, write them this letter (this is the same letter I sent to my HR department):

尊敬的人事部领导：
您好！
我与本公司于yyyy年mm月dd日订立了《劳动合同》。关于该合同中涉及的劳动保障以及社会保险条款，我曾就我本人作为一个外籍就业人员能够享有哪些保险的问题向贵部门的相关人员进行咨询，贵部门告知我不能享有任何社会保险。

事后，我就该问题咨询了北京市劳动和社会保障局（咨询电话12333）并查询了中国的相关法律法规，其中，《外国人在中国就业管理规定》第二十三条规定 “在中国就业的外国人的工作时间、休息、休假劳动安全卫生以及社会保险按国家有关规定执行。”也就是说，在中国境内依法办理了就业许可的外国人也适用劳动合同法。按照《中华人民共和国劳动合同法》、《社会保险费征缴暂行条例》、《工伤保险条例》、《北京市实施〈工伤保险条例》办法〉以及《企业职工工伤保险试行办法》等相关法律、法规的规定，外籍人可以享受本国所规定的各项社会保险，其中工伤保险属于强制险。

因此，就法律而言，我作为外籍人至少可以享受工伤保险的待遇。同时，关于社会保险中的其他险种，根据我向政府相关部门的了解，目前外籍人办理社会保险确实存在行政程序上的障碍（主要因为政府办理系统仅可识别中国公民的身份证），但因其关系到本人是否能够长期稳定就业，也是我本人在入职前与我所应聘部门负责招聘的领导专门提到过且已得到该领导口头承诺的问题，因此，我真诚地希望能和公司及贵部门就该问题的具体处理方式作进一步的沟通，以期得到妥善解决。

当然，发此邮件的目的并不是在于指责公司没有给予我应享有的权利，我知道公司是一个在人事管理方面很规范的企业，也是国内同行业中的旗舰，我只是希望公司及贵部门能够就外国人员在中国可以享有的社会保险及待遇的问题向相关政府部门进行专门性的咨询和确认。我相信随着公司的不断壮大与发展，以及集团在国际上的影响力不断扩大，以后势必会有越来越多的国际友人加入我们公司，因此，也希望公司及贵部门能够借此机会，进一步完善外籍人就业方面的人事管理制度。
顺颂业祺！